This study examines the management patterns of public
records in Sri Lanka and their impact on administration
during the period 1802 to 1990. This covers the period of
British colonial administration and four decades of the
post independence era.
The study shows that during British colonial
administration the administrators did not have an adequate
understanding of the necessity of developing a proper
record-keeping system to support the efficiency of the
administration. The failure of repeated attempts at
improving the management of current records testifies to
the shortfalls entrenched in the system such as the
inadequacy of suitable training for the subordinate staff
and the lack of attention to the semi-current phase of
records. These were not properly detected by the
authorities even up to the date of independence. A
significant drawback of the system was that its scope was
not extended to cover the entire life cycle of the records.
It was assumed that semi-current and non-current records
would not be useful to the administration. This situation
led to the accumulation of records in the creating agencies
which in turn caused long term problems in terms of
retrieval and dissemination of information.
The necessity of an archives was recognised in the
beginning of the twentieth century. However, once
established the aim of the Archives was to retain records
of the Dutch administration for current administrative requirements. Therefore, the records of the British
colonial administration were not transferred to the
Archives until the last decade of the colonial rule. Even
after independence the Archives staff were primarily
concerned with the appraisal, accessioning and disposal of
non-current records; insufficient attention was paid to
semi-current records. The lack of trained professionals,
inadequate funding and narrowly defined work programmes
hindered the development of a comprehensive archives.
Since independence, changes in the country's major
political, constitutional, social and administrative
systems have not been paralleled by the development of
systems to manage public records. An examination of the
record-keeping practices in the public administration has
revealed the fact that the bureaucrats have not yet grasped
the necessity of proper management of records and their
immediate contribution to the efficiency of the
administration. They have still not considered the
consequence of the lack of an integrated policy for the
management of records.
The study concludes by stressing the necessity for new
legislation, the creation of a separate record service,
reorganisation of the Archives and training for public
administration personnel. It is suggested that records
managers be recruited to the public administration in order
to bridge the prevailing gap between the archivists and the
administrators. They should be trained and placed at the
public institutions as officers responsible for managing records at the current and semi-current phases. On the
whole, it is argued that improvement in all phases of the
life cycle of records is vital for the efficiency of the
public administration and for the advancement of the
country.